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Friday, February 8, 2013

English Oak (Quercus robur)

English oak is one of 6 tree seedlings which will be offered in the 2013 Tree Sale held by the Guernsey Soil & Water Conservation District. Other seedlings include white pine, American chestnut, Osage Orange(hedge), Shellbark hickory, and Allegheny Chinquapin. New this year are fruit trees; both peach and apple. The district will also offer 2 varieties of blueberry, and an America cranberry. For more information and to receive an order blank, please call 740-432-5624.

English Oak, as its name implies, is an Oak tree native to England (or more accurately Europe, northern Africa, and western Asia), and therefore is not a tree native to Ohio woodlands. Its growth habit is upright, densely oval, and symmetrical through middle age, then becoming more spreading with advanced maturity. It may reach 50 feet tall and 50 feet wide. Its leaves are shaped like the white oak, although smaller in size.

Planting Requirements - English Oak, in spite of being an imported species of oak, adapts well to the tough conditions of the eastern and midwestern United States. It prefers moist, well-drained, moderately rich soils of variable pH, but adapts very well to moderately dry soils of poor quality. It thrives in full sun to partial sun (but is shade tolerant in youth), and grows in zones 4 to 8.

Potential Problems - English Oak may develop powdery mildew on its foliage by mid- to late summer (this is the common white fungus found within the leaves of many Lilacs and Roses at the same time of season, strictly a cosmetic disease that has no long-term impact on the health of the tree whatsoever). Other than this cosmetic white blemish on its dark green foliage, English Oak is usually disease- and pest-free, although it may on occasion be subject to the standard army of pests and pathogens that afflict the Oaks.